1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network system, an information processing unit, an information processing method, and a control program, and relates to those for displaying and managing information processing units and peripheral devices shared on a network.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, with the spread of personal computers (hereafter referred to as PCs), printers, scanners, digital cameras, and the like, networks such as LAN are coming to be used widely. Thus, needs for sharing a printer, a modem, a scanner, and the like on a network are also growing. Also, numerous drivers for using those peripheral devices, as well as their installing methods have been provided.
One installing method is to perform installing or version upgrading of a driver on a client unit based on an instruction from the client unit, the printer driver being stored in a specific directory of a server unit connected to the client unit via a network. Also, there is a technique in which a driver is downloaded by a pull from a client unit, which having been notified of updating of the driver stored in predetermined server unit, by the client requesting the driver in the server unit to be sent.
Though this is not about distribution of drivers, in the field of data distribution, a technique is also known in which data distribution is performed by a push without waiting for a request from a client unit when there is updating of data on a data distribution server unit.
In order to make peripheral devices available it is necessary to install drivers corresponding to respective devices. For example, in newly making a device available for a client unit, it is necessary to newly add a driver. Also, when a driver is already installed, there is an issue of how to perform version upgrading of the driver.
There is also a problem that it is difficult to determine whether the driver has actually been set up normally upon the completion of its installing or version upgrading.
Furthermore, procedures for installing drivers, upgrading their versions, and setting them up are different from driver to driver. It is also necessary to select a driver type according to the environment for the device and the client unit, complicating the operation. According to the prior art, there is a problem that the working efficiency is very low as it is necessary to perform complicated work on the side of client setting up drivers, such as adding and modifying of drivers based on instructions from the client unit.
Furthermore, in recent years, as network systems are expanding in scale, there are more occasions to set up drivers, installing them or upgrading their versions on a plurality of client units on a unit basis. There is a problem that workload becomes heavier if complicated procedures are to be performed for installing drivers, upgrading their versions, or setting them up on client units.